Day 2.30: Albuquerque, NM to Lubbock, TX

We got up in time to go snag a number of breakfast items and precariously carry them back to the room together.

We went to work out only to find the machine Abe used the day before marked “out of order” and the one Arielle used still broken, and so we tried the elliptical (Arielle) and a bike (Abe). The manager at the front desk was very nice and accommodating when we shared our frustration, making us more likely to return to this hotel. We packed up and drove to the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, which we had seen advertised on the way in on Sunday. Arielle and her family have always had a thing for hot air balloons, and they attended the 2010 Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque so she was excited to see what the museum had to offer. The museum was pretty small but offered a comprehensive history of lighter-than-air travel, and Arielle even got to tag along on a children’s tour. We got to simulate taking off in a balloon but couldn’t figure out how to land on the target. We spent about an hour and a half there and Arielle especially loved the gift shop, which had all balloon things.

We drove only about an hour until Abe was puzzled by why some of the trees and bushes on the side of the road looked white, and we realized it was snow. The temperature dropped to 28 degrees but rose back up to 44 as we continued.

Along our drive, we saw a very long train about to cross the road and opted to make a bathroom stop. On our way back to the car, we saw that we were leaving the hilariously-named Texico, New Mexico. Seconds later, we crossed into Texas, though it took about two miles for us to see a grand welcome sign, which we weren’t sure we’d see at all since we weren’t traveling on a major interstate highway. We smelled some strange things and witnessed a beautiful sunset as we drove through rural Texas on the way to Lubbock.

We arrived at the Comfort Suites University Lubbock around 7:30pm (after losing an hour on the road because of the time difference). Arielle described the hotel as a nicer but less modern version of the Hyatt Place, and our room was spacious with a nice living area. We dropped our bags and drove straight to dinner at the top-rated dinner restaurant on TripAdvisor in Lubbock, Italian Garden. Though the air in the town smelled like manure on the street where the restaurant was located, the interior smelled fine and looked a bit like a fancy sports bar. The heat apparently wasn’t working so we kept our coats on and ordered our food. Arielle described the minestrone as tasting like Progresso (meant as a compliment!) and we enjoyed the garlic bread even though it wasn’t garlicky and had cheese in it. Our two entrees, which we shared, were absolutely delicious, the fettucine alfredo and penne alla vodka (hold the bacon). It was a lot of food and a reasonable price – we would definitely recommend this place. It’s number one for a reason!

We left the relatively abandoned area where the restaurant was and drove back about ten minutes to the hotel. We did some work and then went down to experience what may well have been the deepest hot tub we’ve ever been in.

Approximate number of miles covered: 343

Day 2.29: Albuquerque, NM

Abe woke up early and went to get breakfast, precariously carrying three plates with mini-waffles, an omelet, bread and a banana, and a few drinks including complimentary Dark Chocolate Almondmilk cartons back to the room and managing not to spill anything. We saved breakfast for later and went to work out. The treadmill Abe used was initially stuck but was quickly fixed, but then Arielle’s broke midway through so she had to use the elliptical machine instead. We left for Hinkle Family Fun Center, a very popular USY on Wheels attraction that Abe had been to with one of the groups back in 2014, and arrived there five minutes before it opened. We were the first customers and bought the all-day pass, a pretty great value for the amount of time we had to spend there. We started with ski ball and immediately broke one of the machines as well as multiple ticket dispensers and ticket counters, but there were more than enough friendly employees there to fix everything right away.

We went outside with Dominic, who basically escorted us from attraction to attraction since we were tow of maybe ten people there. We started racing on go-karts, then did a rock climbing wall that Arielle went all the way up while Abe decided to stop pretty early on.

Our next stop was the trampoline, on which Arielle flipped a bunch of times and Abe tried to but just flailed.

The bumper boats had the squirters turned off, ensuring that we wouldn’t get very wet, and they were fun in part because it was so hard to drive straight. We did the go-karts again before taking a break to eat our prepared lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwich (Abe) and leftover tofu and string cheese and apple (Arielle). We went over to the other building, where we played laser tag three times in a row. Arielle demolished Abe each time, and we discovered that it’s a little ridiculous playing with just two people, each taking turns being comically vengeful when we ended up near each other and then had to scatter to make it fun.

We went downstairs and did a ten-minute virtual reality session. Abe choose Google Earth and got to visit Holliston, Massachusetts, Katonah, New York, Los Angeles, and Manhattan, though he found the controls confusing, which led to the ten minutes passing very quickly. He did, however recognize Arielle’s parents’ Prius and Camry in their Los Angeles driveway, which was cool. Arielle did a workplace simulation which ended up being pretty lame. The virtual reality was interesting to try, and we wouldn’t have paid separately for this if it hadn’t come for free because it was a Monday special! We went over to bumper cars, which actually looked a lot like the bumper boats, and had fun whirling around smacking into each other with very minimal directional control, again by ourselves like every other attraction. We went back upstairs and had to find an attendant for the Battletech game, where we fought each other. Arielle won 4-3, but that’s partially because Abe ran the wrong way for one whole life. She wasn’t hiding but chasing him and he never turned around, which was entertaining. That was hardly the most fulfilling moment of the day, so we played another game of laser tag. Arielle killed Abe again but it was our best round yet, only 2000 points apart and our best accuracy of the day. We added $2 to the $5 of arcade credit that had come with our all-day pass to play two last rounds of ski ball, and got a hammerhead shark and a rainbow fish as our prizes in exchange for our earned tickets.

We finished off the day with Dominic and one last round of go-karts. This was a day well spent – almost five hours there! We drove five minutes to Smith’s, where we picked out flowers, strawberries and a cake to bring to dinner and also found Abe’s beloved Sunbelt Bakery Banana Oat granola bars that he originally discovered in Oklahoma on the same trip that had taken him to Hinkle five years earlier. It was only five minutes further to Geri Lynn and Michael’s house. We were so grateful to have been invited over for dinner, and they promptly offered us some amaretto to drink, which Abe enthusiastically accepted. Michael was grilling a delicious cedar plank salmon, and we also had salad with delicious Italian dressing (obviously Arielle thought that), baked potato, sweet potato, acorn squash, and green beans almandine with three different flavors of ice cream and apple strudel to go along with what we had brought for dessert.

They brought out a giant container of Bailey’s and Arielle had it with tea while Abe had it on the rocks. We had a great conversation, talking about the movie business, celebrity stories, and plenty more. We said goodbye and promised to come back soon! We drove back to the hotel, made some phone calls and enjoyed the hot tub before heading to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 13

Day 2.28: Santa Fe, NM to Albuquerque, NM

We got up and worked out beating eating breakfast, which was considerably more disappointing since they didn’t have bananas again but this time also ran out of potatoes without any to replace them. It’s a great breakfast and it was too bad that a busy Sunday resulted in items not being available. Arielle left to go run her first program, Talking to Children About Death. Only 4 people came, but it was still great. Abe caught up on some TV and started packing so that we had a quick 15-minute turnaround when she got back to load up the car. We stopped at Whole Foods, where got a few pieces of sweet chili tofu (great), veggie sides (not great), mac and cheese with asparagus (great), and banana chai smoothie (Abe liked it, Arielle didn’t). We drove five more minutes to the synagogue, and Arielle went in to set up while Abe finished eating in the car. Her program, Physician-Assisted Death from a Jewish Perspective, had twelve very engaged participants, a few of whom were pretty knowledgeable about New Mexico law, which is still actively changing as it pertains to the subject matter. The session ran about an hour and a half, and people stuck around to ask questions.

We said goodbye and thank you to Joy and left for Albuquerque, which was less than an hour away – definitely our shortest drive yet! We did see a very cool cloud along the way.

We checked in at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott University Area, which was a pretty big hotel with a little outdoor building in the middle that houses the fitness center, pool, hot tub, and sauna. After unloading our bags, we drove about fifteen minutes to El Pinto, a restaurant with an enormous parking lot, where we met some of Abe’s family members for the first time. Morris is Abe’s grandmother Barbara’s first cousin, and he brought with him photos from his Bar Mitzvah and his wedding which included Barbara, who passed away ten years ago, her mother Becky, who Abe knew as his great-grandmother Nana until she died at age 99, and her parents Mollie and Max, better known as GG and GP, who his dad grew up knowing. Abe sat and talked to Morris and his wife Evelyn for a while, and Arielle talked to their daughter Geri Lynn and her husband Michael. We switched when our food came. Abe got a house salad he didn’t touch but Arielle ate the chile croutons. Arielle got a taco salad in a tostada bowl that was great except the last bite ended on onion, and Abe got a ribeye that was pretty good with thin fries. Geri Lynn gave us dishes that she had from GG and GP, which was very sweet. We had a wonderful time, and they invited us to come over for dinner the next night!

We felt like having dessert so we stopped on the way back to the hotel at Cold Stone, ordering Abe’s typical Chocolate Devotion with a scoop of banana ice cream mixed in. We watched TV in the hotel and went to sleep, though we were amazed by the loud sound of what we thought was wind but was amplified by a gap in the door.

Approximate number of miles covered: 63

Day 2.27: Santa Fe Day 2

Arielle had planned to sleep in while Abe wanted to get up for breakfast, and he ended up waking up early so he went right to the gym before going to eat, which was almost as good as day one other than the lack of bananas which were sorely needed to make the greek yogurt more palatable (in his opinion). Arielle woke up a bit later and we left to head to explore Santa Fe. We drove to the historic plaza, where Arielle had visited many years ago. We immediately found the unexpected Hebrew word Joy had mentioned we would see on the door frame at the church, and Arielle was able to find a few great books on grief in the church gift shop.

We strolled around the streets and came across Café Pasqual’s, which our Oklahoma City host Helene had told us was her favorite place in Santa Fe. We put in our name and kept walking round for a while, returning just in time a bit later for lunch. Arielle got the Huevos Motuleños, which had eggs, peas, feta cheese, black beans, sautéed bananas, tomatillo sauce and tortillas – it was freaking awesome. Abe got corned beef hash, something he hadn’t actually had before, and found it quite tasty. It came with an English muffin dripping in butter. We tried to drain it and Arielle had it with homemade Santa Fe raspberry jam, the leftovers of which she of course took to go. We browsed the jewelry made by Native American artists and Arielle had a hard time finding just one thing she liked most that wasn’t extremely expensive (as the real turquoise was).

We then drove to Meow Wolf, an attraction everyone had recommended. It was weird right from the start. Arielle would say it was like a combination of an escape room, a Mcdonald’s PlayPlace, and a black light party. Abe, who has never done an escape room, felt it was like an escape room you’re not supposed to escape from. Don’t get the 3-D glasses – they’re only a dollar but not worth it since they only amplify a few things throughout the entirely trippy experience. If you really like art or you’re into solving abstract puzzles, this could be the place for you. If you’re claustrophobic, don’t go. We tried one clue, were confused and not that interested, and gave up and just explored. We Got to slide into a washing machine and walk out of a refrigerator, so that’s something. Ultimately, we spent just over an hour there, and felt this is an activity we would only selectively recommend.

We went to Tribes Coffee House to get a chai and talked to the friendly barista there. We went back to the hotel, where Arielle worked out while Abe did some work.

It started raining, though fortunately it only took about fifteen minutes to get to our restaurant for the evening, Vinaigrette. There, we met Rick and heard how about he got involved with the Chevra Kadisha and how he ended up in Santa Fe. It was great to get to know him and to get his guidance on future work and travel. Arielle got the Asian Chopped Salad with grilled tofu, which she liked, and Abe got the Omega salad with seared tuna. While he didn’t necessarily need the fish, the salad was delicious, especially without the bell pepper, red onion, and blue cheese dressing that were supposed to come with it!

We went back to the hotel after dinner and relaxed, finishing the Baskin Robbins from the night before and even digging into some of the snacks we travel with for Abe to enjoy some chocolate pudding. We also found that the hot tub was not yet full but operational, and so we went in briefly.

Approximate number of miles covered: 19